Chapter 10 - The Basement Key
The revelation hung heavy in the suffocating air of the office. Jonathan turned toward the exit, casting a final, challenging glance over his shoulder.
"If you want answers, meet me at the old estate before midnight," Jonathan said, his voice echoing as he stepped out into the hallway and disappeared into the shadows.
"Wait!" Arthur yelled, starting after him, but the heavy fire door slammed shut on its own accord, the deadbolt sliding into place with a definitive click.
Arthur cursed, slamming his fist against the wood before spinning back to face Elena and Leo. Elena was slumped against the bookshelf, clutching her father's cracked pocket watch to her chest, her breathing shallow and erratic. Leo stood quietly by the desk, holding the coroner's report in one hand and the brass key from the lockbox in the other.
"We can't go to the estate," Arthur said, running a hand through his dark hair, his suit jacket rumpled and stained with dust. "It's a trap. Jonathan wants to draw us out into the open where we have no legal protection."
"Legal protection?" Elena laughed bitterly, looking up with red, tear-stained eyes. "Arthur, you haven't been operating under the law for years. You lied about my sister's death. You lied to the police. What kind of life have we been living?"
"I did what I had to do to keep us safe from people like Jonathan," Arthur insisted, stepping closer, though Elena flinched away from his touch. "He's a criminal. He was laundering money through the firm, and Mia found out. That's why she had to go into hiding. I helped her disappear. The empty casket was part of the plan to convince Jonathan she was dead so he would call off his men."
Elena stared at him, the pieces of the horrifying puzzle finally clicking into place in her mind. "So... she is alive?"
"Yes," Arthur admitted, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "She's alive. But if Jonathan found her, the deal is broken. Everything we built is gone."
Leo stepped forward, holding out the small brass key. "The key doesn't go to the lockbox, Arthur."
Arthur blinked, looking down at the boy. "What are you talking about?"
"It's not for the box," Leo repeated, pointing the key toward the floor hatch beneath the desk. "It's for the security terminal in the basement of the old house. The one where the surveillance tapes were stored."
Elena pushed herself up from the bookshelf, her resolve hardening. "Then we're going."
"Elena, no—" Arthur started.
"I am done listening to your lies, Arthur," she interrupted, her voice ringing with a cold, unyielding authority. "That's my sister. We are going to the estate, and we are going to find out what really happened three years ago."
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Before Arthur could argue further, the lights in the office flickered and went out entirely, plunging them into pitch darkness, save for the headlights of a car pulling up outside the frosted glass windows.
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